PYRETHRUM RANUNCULUS. 



213 



long, pinnatifid and toothed ; stalk 

 shortly branched. There is a fine 

 double-flowered variety popular in 

 gardens : the Pyrethrum known as 

 Golden Feather, and much used as an 

 edging plant, is a yellowish-leaved 

 sport from this. Europe and Cau- 

 casus, and rather freely dispersed over 

 many parts of Britain, but probably 



not truly indigenous. The double 



variety is a pretty border-plant, some- 

 times, too, used in mixed bedding 

 arrangements, and will grow in any 

 soil. Division. 



Pyrethrum serotinum (Late-flowering 

 P.) A showy tall perennial, growing 

 from 4 to 6 ft. high. Flowers, in au- 

 tumn ; 3 in. across, pure white with a 

 yellow centre, solitary on the ends of 

 the corymbose branches ; scales of the 

 involucrum brown on the margins, and 

 terminated by an obtuse, transparent 

 appendage. Leaves, smooth, sessile, 

 lance-shaped, coarsely toothed ; upper 



leaves entire. North America. 



Borders, among tall Asters, etc., shrub- 

 beries, or naturalization in ordinary 

 soil. Division. 



Pyrethrum Tchihatchewii (Turfing 

 Daisy). A dwarf hardy evergreen 

 species, forming a dense turf, a little 

 over 2 in. high. Flowers, early in sum- 

 mer ; pure white with a yellowish disk, 

 solitary, on axillary flower- stalks, 3 to 

 6 in. in length. Leaves, elegantly di- 

 vided, with linear segments, of a fine 

 dark-green colour ; stems very nume- 

 rous, rooting. Asia Minor. Useful 



for carpeting slopes, or even for 

 making small turf-plats, on very arid 

 soil where little else will grow. Divi- 

 sion. 



Pyrola rotundifolia (Larger Winter- 

 green). A rare native evergreen herb. 

 Flowers, in summer ; pure white, fra- 

 grant, from 10 to 20 in a drooping 

 raceme on an erect stem 6 to 12 in. 

 high. Leaves, roundish or broadly 

 oval, slightly toothed, or serrate. A 



variety, P. arenaria, found on sandy 

 sea-shores, differs from the preceding 

 in being dwarfer, deep green and 

 smooth, and generally with several 

 empty scale- like bracts below the in- 

 florescence. Britain, in damp bushy 



places and reedy marshes. Moist 



and half shady parts of the rock- 

 garden and hardy fernery, in peaty 

 soil, mixed with decaying moss, etc. 

 Division. 



Pyxidanthera barbulata (Pine-Bar- 

 ren Beauty) . A minute prostrate 

 evergreen shrub, closely allied to the 

 Diapensia, and singularly pretty ; 

 about 2 in. high. Flowers, in early 

 summer; white, rose-coloured in the 

 bud, solitary, stalkless, very nume- 

 rous ; corolla bell-shaped, 5-lobed, 

 lobes rounded ; calyx of 5 concave 

 sepals. Leaves, narrow, awl- shaped, 

 densely crowded, bearded at the 

 base, mostly alternate on the sterile 

 branches. Sandy "pine barrens" 

 from New Jersey to North Carolina. 



The rock-garden, in very sandy 



soil and in sunny spots. Division. 



Ramondia pyrenaica (Rosette Mul- 

 lein). A handsome stemless herb, 

 with leaves in rosettes spreading flat 

 on the ground ; about 3 in. high. 

 Flowers, in early summer; purple- 

 violet, with orange-yellow centre, 

 somewhat like that of the Potato, 1 

 to l^ in. across, usually solitary, 

 (rarely 2-5- flowered), on naked stalks 

 2 to 6 in. high. Leaves, ovate, ta- 

 pering into the stalk, broadly and 

 deeply crenated, deeply wrinkled and 

 densely covered with short hairs, 

 quite shaggy beneath and on the leaf- 

 stalk. In groves on the Pyrenees and 



in Piedmont. The rock-garden, in 



warm nooks and in moist, free, peaty, 

 and gritty soil. Seed and careful 

 division. 



Ranunculus aconitifolius (Fair 

 Maids of France). A beautiful old 

 border plant, usually seen in the 



